double speaker cable runs ?

[Deleted member 188516]

i believe it is common knowledge that by reducing a speaker cables resistance only positives can result. (such as an amplifier being able to better control the speakers it is driving).

as a result, the advice to use the thickest (multi strand for flexibility) speaker cable possible usually means 500 strand is recommended although, i believe, higher strand numbers are available.

the limiting factor though is how many actual conductors can be attached the the banana plug or spade connection being used.

a way round this would be to use 2 runs of the same cable but one with a spade connection and another with banana plugs. this should then allow a doubling of the speaker cable used but a halving (correct ?) of the cables resistance which should result in an increase in performance.

agree ?

 

[Al ears]

I doubt there's any gain, but I haven't tried it, however I am certain there would be a financial loss......
Don't go giving Chord and the like suggestions.....

 

[Deleted member 188516]

this thread was inspired by trevc stating he uses 4 runs of qed 79 strand in his system.

this idea is something i thought of years ago as i was given a spool of cable but admittedly i never tested it !

as for cost, testing it with qed 79 stand which is £1 per metre or even 500 strand which is £5 a metre is not to much of an outlay to me - if of course it works !

 

[Deleted member 188516]

I doubt there's any gain, but I haven't tried it, however I am certain there would be a financial loss......
Don't go giving Chord and the like suggestions.....

can you imagine the cost of nordost odin 2 !

 

[Gray]

I've previously had 1000+ (very thin) strand OFC stuff from Maplin.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

I've previously had 1000+ (very thin) strand OFC stuff from Maplin.

may i ask how much did that cost ?

 

[Gray]

may i ask how much did that cost ?

It retailed at only around £3 per metre, being a Chinese brand called Shark.
At the time there was much debate about differences between thick multistrand and solid core cable types.
I worked at Maplin and had access to every cable in their range - so thought I would experiment.
I chose that as it was the thickest they did.
I also made up the same length leads using a 0.5mm solid core, silver plated (hair-thin) cable.
It's hard to imagine two more physically different cables.
I was surprised to find that I heard no difference between the two.
(Just for the record, I can hear subtle differences, those between DACs for example).

 

[Al ears]

this thread was inspired by trevc stating he uses 4 runs of qed 79 strand in his system.

this idea is something i thought of years ago as i was given a spool of cable but admittedly i never tested it !

as for cost, testing it with qed 79 stand which is £1 per metre or even 500 strand which is £5 a metre is not to much of an outlay to me - if of course it works !

Of course, going down this route, you have ensure those pesky electrons get it right and actually go done both cables and not just the first connector they meet......

 

[Al ears]

can you imagine the cost of nordost odin 2 !

Yes..... and no.

 

[TrevC]

I doubt there's any gain, but I haven't tried it, however I am certain there would be a financial loss......
Don't go giving Chord and the like suggestions.....

Of course there's no gain, it's wire. But there will be lower losses in the resistance of the cable, which is why it will sound better if the cable run is long.

 

[TrevC]

Of course, going down this route, you have ensure those pesky electrons get it right and actually go done both cables and not just the first connector they meet......

I'm now going to use one of the favourite foo fantasist questions. "how do you know it isn't better if you haven't tried it?"

 

[Gray]

My current speaker cable is 4-core.
My amp's got 2 sets of speaker terminals, so I was always going to use the 2 runs.
My speakers are bi-wireable, so that's how I use them
I'm well aware of the common opinion that bi-wiring is pointless.
However, someone posted the link below on another forum. When you read and understand what they're saying about the electron flow in each cable (due to the different filter effects in the crossover)......you might just think, if you've got the cable anyway, why not bi-wire? (I did it before I ever saw this by the way):

Bi-wiring Speakers: An exploration of the benefits -

(Bi-wiring Speakers) Bi-wireable loudspeakers have been available since at least the late 1980s and are now quite common. You can easily tell if your spea

www.qacoustics.co.uk

And yes, sceptics have rightly pointed out that QED are partly responsible for the article, so would advocate bi-wiring!

 

[Al ears]

I'm now going to use one of the favourite foo fantasist questions. "how do you know it isn't better if you haven't tried it?"

You're the best one to answer that surely?

 

[Al ears]

Of course there's no gain, it's wire. But there will be lower losses in the resistance of the cable, which is why it will sound better if the cable run is long.

How long?

 

[TrevC]

You're the best one to answer that surely?

Answer what?

 

[Deleted member 188516]

How long?

thats what i was going to ask !

 

[Deleted member 188516]

Of course, going down this route, you have ensure those pesky electrons get it right and actually go done both cables and not just the first connector they meet......

i was wondering whether running 2 separate cables to the same sockets might cause a short circuit or something but i am clueless on these things !

 

[Deleted member 188516]

Of course there's no gain, it's wire. But there will be lower losses in the resistance of the cable, which is why it will sound better if the cable run is long.

how will it sound better typically ?
deeper bass ?
clearer sound ?

 

[Deleted member 188516]

It retailed at only around £3 per metre, being a Chinese brand called Shark.
At the time there was much debate about differences between thick multistrand and solid core cable types.
I worked at Maplin and had access to every cable in their range - so thought I would experiment.
I chose that as it was the thickest they did.
I also made up the same length leads using a 0.5mm solid core, silver plated (hair-thin) cable.
It's hard to imagine two more physically different cables.
I was surprised to find that I heard no difference between the two.
(Just for the record, I can hear subtle differences, those between DACs for example).

thats interesting thanks for sharing your thoughts.

may i ask can you remember what amplifier and speakers you used ?

 

[Al ears]

thats what i was going to ask !

Considering those at BT can send a signal losslessly down a thin single core bit of wire I would suggest it would have to be very long indeed.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

Considering those at BT can send a signal losslessly down a thin single core bit of wire I would suggest it would have to be very long indeed.

is it the same type of signal ?

 

[Samd]

Of course there's no gain, it's wire. But there will be lower losses in the resistance of the cable, which is why it will sound better if the cable run is long.

Yep - heard that before from a number of sources but still can't understand why I should increase the length of my cable!

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Gray, you worked at Maplin?!

If you were like the typical employee, I hope your complexion and personal hygiene have taken a step up since...

(Only joking, btw.)

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

My current speaker cable is 4-core.
My amp's got 2 sets of speaker terminals, so I was always going to use the 2 runs.
My speakers are bi-wireable, so that's how I use them
I'm well aware of the common opinion that bi-wiring is pointless.
However, someone posted the link below on another forum. When you read and understand what they're saying about the electron flow in each cable (due to the different filter effects in the crossover)......you might just think, if you've got the cable anyway, why not bi-wire? (I did it before I ever saw this by the way):

I'm similar, in that I was bi-amping but it's bi-amp cable - I other words all four strands are part of the same run. Rather than have two unused bananas at each end, I'm using both speaker outputs and both speaker terminals.

Didn't try it with/without as the decision was more for aesthetic purposes than sonic.

 

[Gray]

thats interesting thanks for sharing your thoughts.

may i ask can you remember what amplifier and speakers you used ?

It was several changes ago, but I do remember that it was a Harman Kardon PM650 and Spendor Prelude.
(That tells you how long ago it was).